Marketing Tactics for Niche Markets
Marketing a Library Management and Research Services Business
At Gaebler, we've seen what great marketing can do for a small business. But if you own a library management and research services business, exceptional marketing may well be the determining factor in your long-term survival and success.
A high-quality marketing plan connects your company to your customers. Without it, you'll quickly find your library management and research services business cut off from the marketplace.
Top performers habitually integrate sound marketing concepts with market demands.
Promotional Calendars
Sloppy marketing programs have no place in growing library management and research services businesses. A strategy chocked full of time-sensitive ad placements and other tactics can devolve into a tangled mess of overlapping deliverables unless it is coordinated in a promotional calendar. Good calendars include not only tactical deadlines, but also schedules for the inputs (e.g. staff assets, vendors, etc.) that are required to execute strategic objectives. Many list vendors appreciate promotional calendars because they are useful for timing the delivery of the resources your business needs to meet strategic objectives.
Social Media Monitoring
The use of social media as a marketing tool is the latest wave to overtake the small business community. Combined with a functional company website, social media attracts new customers and converts them to brand advocates. However, social media also has a dark side -- negative mentions. Most library management and research services businesses are especially vulnerable to negative exposure through social media. Social media monitoring can be as simple as periodical Google searches or as complex as the application of sophisticated monitoring software. Either way, it's essential to develop a system for regularly monitoring your company's presence in social media, followed by positive customer engagements.
Generating Buzz
Never underestimate the value of good buzz with consumers. You've heard it said before: Word of mouth is the best form of promotion for products and brands. For a library management and research services business, meaningful brand conversations have the ability to transform the impact of your marketing efforts. To encourage marketplace conversations, you'll need to equip consumers with the tools they need to create meaningful brand dialogues. Social networking and other online strategies can play a foundational role when they are performed in tandem with face-to-face interactions and industry networking.
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